1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns electronic messaging in general and electronic mail in particular, and provides a method and system for handling electronic mail messages, verifying the origination of messages to determine the probability that they are or are not junk e-mail, and detecting that a mass mailing has been initiated by utilizing special addresses.
2. Description of the Background
Digital storage of information brings with it the ability to transfer such information easily and inexpensively. As a result of this situation, unwanted or unsolicited junk e-mail (sometimes referred to as “spam”) has become prevalent on the Internet since messages can be sent without a specific “per-character” cost. As a result, the average e-mail account currently receives a number of unsolicited, unwelcome pieces of junk e-mail each day, with a rapidly increasing number of pieces being forecast.
Documents are available which describe electronic mail handling procedures. In particular, two Internet standards on e-mail are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. They are: Internet STD0014 entitled “MAIL ROUTING AND THE DOMAIN SYSTEM” (also known as RFC 974) and Internet STD0010 entitled “SIMPLE MAIL TRANSFER PROTOCOL” (also known as RFC 821). The contents of the Second Edition of “sendmail” by Bryan Costales and Eric Allman, published by O'Reilly Publishing, is also incorporated herein by reference. Further, some issued patents address the general handling of electronic mail. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,354 teaches a method for prioritizing a plurality of incoming electronic mail messages by comparing the messages with a list of key words. U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,648 teaches a method for reducing junk e-mail which uses non-address information and uses a filtering system that has access to models of the user's correspondents. The e-mail system adds a recipient identifier that is used to further specify the recipients in the group to whom the message is sent who should actually receive the message.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,426 teaches a method and apparatus for disseminating messages to unspecified users in a data processing system. The method permits users to associate conditions of interest, such as keywords or originator identities, but does not perform any verification of the originator's identity. The method permits messages to be sent based upon probable interest in the message, rather than being addressed to any specific individual.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,764 teaches a method for implementing a rules-based system that can run a user's set of rules under system control and process messages according to the user's rules. Peloria Mail Scout uses rules to screen junk mail by limiting messages to only known and acceptable senders, but makes no provision for unknown, yet acceptable senders.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,733 teaches a method for collecting, sorting, and compiling statistical summaries of message acknowledgment data, also known as Confirmations of Delivery or COD's. The invention teaches a method for acknowledging a single message to multiple recipients and generating a statistical list of information delivery under such circumstances. Each of the above-referenced US patents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.